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Disney and Marvel Together?
Since Disney is obviously lacking in the superhero department, and princesses are not satisfying everyone, they are trying to come up with other ideas. They want to form a larger superhero fan base, because they’re missing out on millions of dollars, but don’t fear because they have determined the best solution and grabbed the bull by the horns.
Disney has announced a deal in which they will acquire Marvel Comics for $4 billion. By obtaining this company, Disney will be able to drastically boost their male fan club. This far, most fans of Disney have been female, but Marvel brings an entirely different cohort. Not only can they get younger viewers but also older fans.
Marvel has been responsible for bringing characters such as Iron Man, Spider-Man, and X-Men. Currently Marvel has over 5,000 characters and by joining with Disney there could be more movies, rides, action figures, and comic books. Now Mickey Mouse and Buzz Lightyear won’t have to compete with the comic book giant.
This acquisition will be the largest since Disney purchased Pixar Animation in 2006, for the grand total of $7.4 billion. In the past, Disney has been excited by their acquisitions, but this will be the crown in the jewel. Ever since Time Warner purchased DC Comics the home of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman they have been trying to keep up.
They chose to focus their competition on other efforts until now. With this acquisition, there will be a level playing field. Now it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. My guess is that Marvel and Disney will. Now they have die hard fans of every demographic. Disney will have something guys grew up with and can experience with their kids, especially their sons," said a spokesman of Wizard Entertainment Group. In an effort to get more boys, 20 hours of Marvel programming per week are already on the cable network Disney XD.
The deal will not be finalized until the end of the year. However, Disney will not be producing any movies anytime soon due to the fact that Columbia Pictures has a five-picture distribution deal for Marvel-made movies. Currently there are third party licensing agreements and Disney will determine down the road whether they want to re-examine Marvel’s licensing deals upon expiration and extend the profitable ones.
Since 1998 Marvel has come a long ways. Movies have been made from the comics "Iron Man", "Spider Man", "Daredevil", and "X-Men." They are also going to be releases of ‘Silver Surfer," "Captain America", and "Thor" by 2011 and more installments in "Spider Man" and "X-Men".
While Marvel is currently set up to earn billions, Disney will be losing money. Stocks have fallen and Disney does not expect to see their earnings per share to increase until 2012.
